Time After Time
by DatNookieThang
Summary: Candace reflects on the events that led to her and Cookie's current - and nonexistent - relationship. A portion from an old fic (Around the Way Girl) found its way into this one. For ARIAINTHESTARS for getting this one stuck in my head.


_Note: Cookie wasn't made 16 at her first meeting with Lucious until the middle of the 3rd season._ _Time After Time was written around the 2nd season of Empire. The original (unaired) pilot had Cookie and Lucious at 14/16 when they met, which is why they're both so young in this story.  
_

* * *

The first time Candace Holloway caught Cookie and Lucious in bed together, she'd come home from school to hear giggling in the apartment's lone bedroom, which Candace shared with Cookie and their baby sister, Carol. Furious because her sisters were playing around when they should've been doing chores, Candace stormed into the bedroom to find Cookie under the bed covers, working her body underneath some bare-chested boy. And not just any boy. It was Lucious Lyon.

Though Candace was a high-achieving junior and Lucious, to Candace's knowledge, had never seen a high school, she was drawn to him like a magnet. Oh, she knew that Lucious was one of the neighborhood stick-up kids who dealt drugs on the side, but there was a quiet maturity to Lucious that made Candace think that he was different. Lucious wasn't flashy and he wasn't loud and he wasn't the kind to brag about all the money he had or all the pussy he was getting. Candace didn't know why, but she wanted Lucious for herself. She just did.

It was hard getting next to Lucious; he lived on the west side of Philly, not the south side where the Holloway sisters lived. Candace knew that he hung out on the corner on 23rd a lot, but that was more Cookie's crowd, not hers. When her old chemistry partner, Vernon Turner, asked Candace if she could slap a few tennis balls his way on the courts at the park, a light went off in her head. Lucious hung out at that park often, and Vernon was one of Lucious's closest friends.

Lucious wasn't at the park that day, but Candace caught the eye of the tennis coach from Central High School, who was there to work with Vernon. He advised Candace to work on her fundamentals and go to the district summer camp. There was no room for Candace at Central, but there would be six open slots at the Philadelphia School for Girls the next school year - a far cry from the shithole that was her current high school.

Candace practiced every day the sun was out, only making it to the park when she couldn't get to Central. If she couldn't hit with Vernon, she'd offer to hit with anyone at the park. If Candace had no partner, she worked on her hitting against an old handball wall. "That doesn't look so hard," Lucious boasted one day while she was practicing her serve against the wall so intently that the crack of the ball hitting the wall had gotten his attention.

It figured that the day Candace wasn't looking for Lucious that he'd show up. "Wanna try?" Candace handed Lucious her racquet - one of two hand-me-downs from Vernon - and gestured to the court. She laughed as Lucious missed ball after ball, no matter how softly Candace lobbed it to him. "Dang!" Lucious yelled after the yet another ball was dumped into the net. "How can you even see that thing?!"

"I don't know." Suddenly, Candace felt self-conscious in her ratty ponytail and dirty tennis shoes. Lucious didn't seem to notice. "Okay. Teach me how to hit this ball," he said, showing the determination and focus that he was so well-known for on the streets. Sure enough, by the time the sky was grew dim, Lucious could manage a weak back-and-forth rally, even in a pair of Timberlands.

Lucious walked Candace home that night, even carrying her tennis gear. While their conversation was light - they didn't have much in common - Candace secretly pretended that Lucious was her boyfriend. And when he started singing a little of the song he'd recently written, Candace imagine that she wrote the lyrics for her. Lucious was a talented musician who mastered any instrument he touched.

"Maybe you can give me some lessons," Candace suggested. She had no desire to play piano, but she'd learn Beethoven's _Hammerklavier_ if it got her next to Lucious Lyon.

"Yeah. " Lucious said with his sexy smile, and Candace got so light-headed that she felt dizzy. " I can teach you a few things."

 _I'll bet._

Everything came crashing down as soon as Candace and Lucious made it to the front house. "Took ya black ass long enough," Cookie snarled from the top of the steps. Her shirt was tied in a way that made her breasts look bigger, and Candace was pretty sure those were Carol's shorts Cookie was wearing. The doorknocker earrings and brightly painted nails finished off Cookie's "booty for sale" look.

Before Candace could ask Cookie who the hell was she talking to, Lucious's eyes lit up like the sun. "S'up, Cookie."

 _S'up, Cookie!?_

Just like that, it was over. There was no way Candace could compete with Cookie. Even at 14, Cookie had a walk and a style that made Candace feel like a child in her younger sister's presence. "Where the hell do you think you're going dressed like that?" she demanded.

"Out," was all Cookie said as she brushed past Candace and made her way down the stairs.

"Where the hell is out?" It was worthless to argue that Cookie was on punishment and wasn't supposed to be going out, regardless of where "out" was.

"Not in," Cookie replied. "See ya."

"Did you take your birth control this morning?" Candace called down the steps. "You know you're always forgetting to take your pill." Their mother had put Cookie on birth control on her 13th birthday. For some reason, Candace thought Lucious should know that.

In response, Cookie slowly picked up the bag Lucious had set on the steps, walked up to Candace and shoved it into Candace's stomach so hard that she nearly bowled over. The last thing Candace heard was Lucious's voice: "Damn, Cookie. That's cold."

Time and again, Candace couldn't believe Lucious liked a girl like Cookie, who cursed and drank and smoked weed and couldn't even remember to take a stupid pill every morning. But there he was on top of Cookie, minus his trademark floppy cap, kissing her lips and neck and chest as he strained himself to please her.

Something made Cookie open her eyes and look into the large dresser mirror, where the sisters' eyes locked. Any other girl would've screamed, or threw the covers on her body, or yelled at Candace to get out. Cookie did none of those things. She held her sister's gaze until Candace ran out of the room, out of the apartment, and all the way to the tennis courts, where she slid against her wall and cried until she ran out of tears.

Today was Lucious's 16th birthday. Candace had saved up her lunch money for two weeks to treat him to some birthday pizza. Cookie gave Lucious some birthday pussy. Really, it wasn't much of a decision to make. Candace just hoped that Cookie was taking her birth control pills - that was, if she could even find them.

* * *

The second time Candace caught Cookie and Lucious in bed together, she had to send Carol to the corner store with the last bit of her paycheck to buy a few groceries just to get her out of the house. "Cookie!" Candace yelled, banging on the bedroom door. "Cookie, get your ass out here!"

Cookie couldn't hear Candace or she didn't care. With the blood rushing to her head, Candace threw the door open, then wished she hadn't. There was no questioning what kind of lessons Lucious was giving Cookie. With her head thrown back and her hands pressed against Lucious's chest, Cookie made for a sight that was equal parts beautiful and disturbing. Although Cookie moved with all the ease and experience of a grown woman, she still looked like the young girl that she was.

 _"Loretha!"_ Candace was horrified and angry and embarrassed and turned on all at the same time.

"Oh, shit! Cookie, it's Candace!" Lucious sat up so fast that Cookie almost tumbled off the bed - Candace's bed, no less - but Cookie was more angry than anything else. "Candace, get out!"

"Loretha-"

"Go away, Candace!" Cookie flung a pillow in Candace's direction.

 _"Hurry up!"_ Candace screamed and stomped off. Once again, Candace was at the mercy of her younger sister. So was Lucious. He had tried, Candace could tell, but Cookie was on top of him doing whatever it was she was doing to make him give in.

Candace wasn't a virgin, but the awkward, clumsy fumbling with Vernon didn't result in anything close to the passionate scene Lucious and Cookie had made. That night, in her dreams, Candace could see Lucious's face over her body, looking into her eyes as he gripped her tightly, and she woke up wet and hot and desperately needing a release. Over the sound of running water and with her teeth biting down on a towel to muffle her cries, Candace ground her hips against her fingers until she climaxed so hard that she slid to the bathroom floor. Candace knew it was wrong, but she wished that Lucious would make love to the way he made love to her sister. She wished so hard.

* * *

The third time Candace walked in on Cookie and Lucious came after Cookie got suspended for fighting. Candace had been in study hall when she heard how Cookie Holloway had walked all the way up Roosevelt High School from Lincoln Middle School because some girl named Sheila said she was sleeping with Cookie's boyfriend. Cookie barged up through the school hallways, dragged a girl to the middle of the cafeteria floor by her braids and whaled on her until someone from the nurse's office showed up to take the poor girl away. Cookie was already gone before the cops showed up.

For the first time in her life, Candace skipped class, rushing to the corner of 23rd. The crowd had gathered in a circle before Candace even made it off the bus. In the center was Cookie, unleashing a barrage of furious blows on Lucious, who was trying to get his side of the story out. "Cookie, she lyin'!" Lucious was protesting. "I ain't never been with anybody since I hooked up with you!"

"Then why is she telling everybody y'all fuckin'? Huh?" Cookie demanded to know.

"Because she a skeezer! Besides, you know how all these girls want me! Shiiit," Lucious added, getting cocky around his crew. "You just lucky I chose you! I coulda had any bitch out here, but I- _aaaaaggggghhhh_!"

 _Takes one to know one,_ Candace thought bitterly. Sheila was a skeezer, but Cookie's reputation was just as bad.

Still not satisfied with Lucious's answer, Cookie took Lucious to the ground, pinned him flat on his stomach and ruthlessly twisted his arm. It was a move Candace taught Cookie long ago. "Tell everybody who your girl is!" Cookie demanded to an ever-growing crowd, one that had made a pathway for Candace to get to her sister. "Right now, in front of everybody!"

"You are! You my girl! Lemme go, Cookie, damn!"

Cookie grabbed a handful of Lucious's hair and jerked his head up so hard that tears came to his eyes. "I don't think they heard you, Lucious! Who's your girl, Lucious? Say my name!"

"Girl, you better get up offa me or- _aaaaaagggggh_!"

The crowd roared with laughter. Despite that fact that Cookie looked like a complete fool at the moment, Candace had to be impressed with her baby sister's intensity. "Dang, Lucious," Candace said casually as Lucious's eyes begged Candace for help. "You better say her name."

"Say my name, Lucious!" Cookie was on the verge of hysterics. Her hand wound tighter into Lucious's hair. "Tell everybody who your girl is!"

"Aaaaggghhh - _**Cookie Lyon**!"_ Lucious screamed.

Whoa. Candace had never seen anything like it in her life. Lucious Lyon - the guy that every girl in the neighborhood was trying to get with - had given Cookie his last name in front of everybody. There was no question who his girl was now, her reputation be damned.

If Cookie was touched by Lucious's declaration, she didn't show it. She simply let go of Lucious's hair. Candace winced as his chin struck the ground, splitting his skin and giving him a scar that he would have for life. "Now!" Cookie yelled to the crowd, standing to her feet and brushing herself off. "If any bitch wants to come for my man, you tell her to come see me!" Chest heaving, Cookie turned to a few of the girls in her crew. "Come on."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Candace stepped up and pulled her sister back. She was surprised to see Cookie's eyes filled with angry tears, and her body was still trembling. "Where you going, sis?"

"That bitch Sheila's little sister - you know Patricia?" Cookie asked, breathing heavily. "She had said-"

"Uh...no. No more fighting for the day, Muhammad Ali-yah." Candace smoothed the hair off Cookie's face. "It's okay, sis. You won." She brought her forehead to Cookie's. "Did you hear what Lucious called you?" Candace whispered. "He called you Cookie Lyon!"

"He did?" Cookie had been concentrating so hard on beating the sidewalk with Lucious's face that she didn't remember much of anything, other than her sister standing over them both, watching her back. Meanwhile, the crowd was starting to disperse, but the whispers and the talk was loud and clear.

 _"...bitch is crazy, man..."_

 _"...she walked all the way from Lincoln to..."_

 _"...don't even go to Roosevelt! I don't even think he goes to school!"_

 _"Don't mess with Cookie Holloway, boy. She crazy. All them Holloways are crazy."_

 _"...hear what he said? He called her Cookie Lyon..."_

 _"...Cookie Lyon..."_

 _"...said her name is Cookie Lyon..."_

"Did you mean it?" Cookie asked shyly when Lucious finally got back to his feet. "When you called me Cookie Lyon?"

"What, you don't think it sounds good?" Lucious pulled Cookie close to him by her waist and kissed her cheek. She smiled and kissed him right on his cut. They looked so happy and natural together that it hurt Candace's heart to watch them.

Lucious slid Candace some money to go see a move with Carol. He and Cookie walked home with their arms wrapped around each other. They were still making love when Candace came back home a couple of hours later, but she'd been smart enough to leave Carol on the front steps before walking in the door.

 _"You love me, baby?"  
"I love you, Lucious...oh, my God..."  
"What's your name, baby?"  
"Cookie Lyon..."  
"What's your name?"  
"Cookie Lyon! Oh, shit-Lucious! __**Lucious!**_ _I love you, Lucious!"_

According to some of the kids in the crowd, Cookie was looking at a 10-day suspension. That was a lot of love. Cookie Lyon, Candace thought as she took $20 out of Lucious's wallet, then locked the door behind them. It had a ring to it. Like syphilis. "C'mon, Carol," she said bitterly, holding up the money as Carol beamed. "Let's go get some pizza. It's on your brother-in-law."

* * *

Then Lucious got popped up for carjacking and sentenced to six months in juvenile detention. If Cookie was a mess with Lucious, she was inconsolable without him. She cried day and night, and spent all her time doing nothing but writing him letters. She did, however, start going back to school again, probably because there was nothing else to do. Between Candace's help with the homework and her strident, unyielding demands, Cookie managed to score high enough on her final exams to push all her final grades into the low 70s, allowing her to pass to the 10th grade.

Candace had killed herself for three years to make high marks, and she'd sacrificed all her free time into playing tennis and studying. But their mother was so excited that Cookie had met the minimum state education standards that she'd bought Cookie two new pairs of L.A. Gears. Cookie, unbeknownst to their mother, exchanged one pair for a proper set of tennis shoes, the kind needed for a grueling summer camp on a clay court. It was the nicest thing Candace could ever think of her sister doing for her.

* * *

There were two options for tennis camp: one could commute from home to the University of Pennsylvania every day for free, or one could live on campus for five weeks for a small fortune. The thought of traveling over an hour to camp and an hour every day for over a month made Candace want to cry. But Girls High was in her grasp, so she vowed to make it work.

Two nights before the first day of campus, Vernon surprised Candace with a brand new set of tennis gear that was too expensive for his paycheck at Big Tony's Pizzeria. He also told her that her camp fees had been covered - fees that were that was definitely too expensive for his paycheck at Big Tony's Pizzeria. Candace thanked Vernon in bed, but she was thinking of Lucious the entire time. She had to bite down in a pillow to keep from calling out his name.

For five weeks, Candace lived the Ivy League college life. She ate in the cafeteria, slept in the dorms, and even sat in a couple of freshman lecture classes. Some of the campers talked about sneaking into college parties, but Candace spent her nights with Vernon - sometimes in his dorm room - and writing letters to her sisters and her mother.

Candace was surprised when they all wrote her back, and she kept her letters in a folder along with the rest of her souvenirs of camp. Candace wrote to Cookie about the classes and the campus and how it was weird seeing so many white people. Cookie wrote about attending Roosevelt's freshman orientation and how she got into a fight with a couple of the varsity track girls because they challenged her to a race, then got dusted in front of everybody. She also wrote that she'd broke up with Lucious because he never wrote her in juvy. _L8r 4 him!_ Candace liked Lucious well enough, but if Lucious being in jail put Cookie back in school, she was glad to see him go. Very glad. Maybe a little too glad.

Candace went back home 15 pounds lighter with a suitcase full of Penn gear and a yearning to go to Penn that made her longing for Girls High look like nothing. That's when she walked into Lucious and Cookie for the fourth time. "Hey, Candace," Lucious greeted, coming out of the shower with a towel wrapped around his waist as Candace dragged her luggage into the house. "How was camp?"

Good God! Candace couldn't take her eyes off Lucious, and not just because was out of jail. Had he always been so ripped? Lucious was tall and wiry, but his pecs were defined, his stomach taut and rippled, and his waist cut. The scar on his chin made him sexier than ever, and his skin looked like melted butterscotch. "Fine. When'd you get out?"

"Four days ago. Nobody wanted to testify, so..." Lucious shrugged. "Here, I'll take that. You should eat something, girl. You're too thin. Got a nice little tan, though." He smiled at her that way that made Candace want to jump on his dick and ride it to Mexico.

"Thanks." Candace's heart began to pound, even though her eyes were fixed on Lucious's new tattoo. Permanently and crudely drawn over Lucious's heart was a large CL. Cookie Lyon...or Candace Lyon. "Nice tat."

"Thanks. I'ma go to a professional and get it filled in."

Just then, Cookie strolled into the bedroom. She, too, wore a towel around her waist. "Hey, Candace," Cookie said casually, unfazed that she was standing in front of Candace without a shirt on. "Welcome back." And Cookie pushed Lucious through the bedroom door, slamming it in Candace's face before she could even get unpacked and give Cookie the t-shirt she'd repeatedly asked for.

Candace didn't run to her sacred spot on her wall like she had the first time she'd seen Cookie and Lucious together, but she did break down in tears. Even half-naked and sporting a freshly fucked look, Cookie still looked like the young girl she was. But only a fool wouldn't notice how much her breasts had started to swell.

* * *

By the time Candace's senior year at Girls High was in full swing, she was accustomed to seeing Lucious and Cookie in bed together. They didn't even jump when she came in the bedroom anymore. Usually, Lucious was just lying there with Cookie's head on his chest, on that tattoo where her initials were. Carol was stretched out at the foot of the bed half the time, reading or drawing or doing homework on the floor. "It's just me," Candace would say quietly time after time. "Cookie, dinner's ready."

"I'm not hungry," Cookie would say automatically. "Lucious can have mine."

"Lucious, you sleeping over here tonight?"

"Is it okay?" Lucious would ask. For some reason, he always asked.

"Sure."

On nights when their mother worked, Cookie and Lucious slept in Candace's bed, Carol slept on the couch and Candace took the living floor. To Cookie and Lucious's credit, the two of them were as quiet as they could be in a house with walls so thin - just loud enough to keep Candace awake with her body on fire, but not loud enough to wake Carol. But everything had been quiet for the last couple of weeks. And Cookie never did register for school.

* * *

"You know," Candace told Lucious over the Thanksgiving break, "you should really learn how to greet people when you go to their houses."

"Huh?" Lucious's hat was low over his eyes and his guitar was slung on his shoulder, same as always. That Lucious could walk the streets with his guitar and not be robbed said a lot about his reputation.

"Every time me or Carol open the door, the first you say is _'Uh, yeah...Cookie home?'"_

Lucious laughed at Candace's imitation of his usual greeting. "Sorry."

That warm, familiar feeling coursed through Candace's body. She didn't fight it anymore. "You hungry? I just fixed dinner. Cookie and Carol went to go get some stuff for salad if you wanna wait."

"I can wait." But about two minutes later, Lucious was wolfing down a plate of spaghetti, washing it down with a glass of milk. "Vernon told me you're going to transferring to Central with him in the spring," he said, rising to put his plate in the sink. "I thought you were going to Girls High?"

"Vernon's old mixed doubles partner got pregnant, and he told the coach he wouldn't played mixed unless I was his partner. I won't be on the girls' varsity team, though. Just mixed doubles."

"You'll make it." Lucious called over his shoulder, running some warm water to wash his plate and glass, along with all the dishes Cookie didn't wash earlier that day. "Watch and see. You'll be the captain by the end of the year."

"Maybe so." Lucious said it with so much confidence that Candace could almost see it. "Uh...speaking of that..." Candace gulped in some air as Lucious turned around and looked at her with those gorgeous hazel eyes. "I never told you thank you. Y'know, for paying the camp fees and my new stuff."

Candace didn't know what she was expecting in response, but she wasn't expecting Lucious to look uncomfortable. "I don't know what you're talking about, Candace." He turned back around and began to rinse his plate. "Vernon paid for that. Here, run some clean water on the other side of the sink. You wash, I'll rinse." Lucious was as modest as ever. It just made Candace want him even more.

The two of them still didn't have anything in common except Cookie, so the housework was pretty quiet. But Candace liked it that way. It gave her time to think. And Lucious looked and smelled so good, just like he always did. Candace would grow faint every time he brushed against her. Could she lean over and kiss him from where she stood? She didn't dare, but she wanted to.

Later, when Carol came home with the groceries and Cookie still didn't show up, Candace offered to listen to the song Lucious was working on. She and Carol she followed him into the living room and listened to him pluck out a few notes - an arpeggio, he told Carol. "It's pretty," Candace said once Carol went outside. "What do you call it?"

"I don't. I just got this one line: ' _you got me watchin' you/like a camera do.'_ Corny, huh?"

"Grammatically challenged, but I like it." Sitting there, talking and laughing and doing dishes and listening to him play so beautifully on his guitar, Candace couldn't take it anymore. "Lucious, why did you choose Cookie instead of me?"

Lucious raised his eyebrows. "You were Vernon's girl," he said after an uncomfortable stretch of silence.

What? "I was never Vernon's girl! Who told you I was Vernon's girl?"

"I thought you were." Lucious stood and rubbed the back of his neck, shifting his weight from leg to leg. "You two were always together, playing tennis and now you're transferring to Central to be with him-"

"He's my tennis partner, Lucious! Hell, I started playing tennis because of you!" Candace could feel her heart breaking. _All this time..._ Tears welled up in Candace's eyes. She could hardly believe what she was hearing.

"Me?" Lucious asked, confused. "Why? How?"

"Because I wanted to get next to you! I wanted to get to know you! I wanted...I wanted you." Her voice dropped to a whisper. "I want you, Lucious. I still want you."

Lucious's eyes grew wide at Candace's declaration. Then he gave a deep, sad sigh. "Candace..."

He was going to say no. He was going to turn her down. "Just once, Lucious." Candace slid next to Lucious on the couch and wrapped her arms around Lucious's neck. "Please?" she whispered, kissing his neck. The scent of his aftershave made Candace even hotter. "Cookie never has to know."

"Candace." But Candace brought her mouth to his so he couldn't reject her anymore. She didn't feel a bit of guilt, didn't care that he wasn't kissing her back, didn't care that he didn't help her out of her shirt, which she yanked off her body and tossed on the floor. Any minute now, Lucious would respond to her, just like Vernon did. Any minute now, Lucious would grab the back of her hair, like he did when he was gone from Cookie for long stretches of time. Lucious would seize her by the hips and run his hands up her firm stomach and-

Abruptly, Lucious shoved Candace off his lap and stood over her. Without words, Lucious pulled his shirt up to his neck with one hand. What were once traced letters now stood out like a cattle brand. **CL**. Cookie Lyon. There was no confusion about that. "She still doesn't have to know..." Candace said, growing smaller and smaller under Lucious's steely gaze.

Lucious shook his head slowly. That's when Candace realized that he was just trying to be nice to her when he said that he thought she was Vernon's girl. Not only had she never had his affection, she'd lost Lucious's friendship and probably his respect as well. "I'm going to look for Cookie."

"Wait!" Having nothing to lose now, Candace grabbed one of Lucious's hands and shoved it down her sweatpants. She didn't care if Lucious only fucked her out of pity, just as long as he fucked her. God, for one night, just let me have him.

"Candace! Candace, stop!" Lucious jerked his hand out of Candace's panties as if her body was on fire, but just that slight brush of his hand between her legs made Candace moan out loud. She'd never felt anything like it in her life. Lucious grabbed Candace by her wrists when she went for him a second time. " _Candace, I'm married!"_

"What?" Candace shook her head slowly as Lucious pulled a faded, crumpled sheet of paper from his pocket. "I'm married. We're married," Lucious repeated, holding out a copy of a paper that Candace refused to look at. "Me and Cookie got married three days ago."

In response, Candace slapped Lucious so hard that his neck popped. "You don't have to lie to me like that, Lucious!"

"I'm not lying. Look, Candace. No, look!" But Candace wouldn't look. As long as she didn't look, it wasn't true. It couldn't be. "Lucious," Candace said, calming herself down, "I know good and hell well my mama didn't sign off on some shit like this." Besides, anyone could get any kind of fake license for the right price.

"She didn't have to." Lucious put the paper back in his pocket. "I do business with this guy who's a judge with the Orphan's Court." By _business partner,_ Lucious meant _customer_. "All I had to show him was that Cookie's pregnant and he wrote up the approval. It usually requires a parent's permission, but we do a lot of business together. So he just made me wait until she turned 15."

 _He's for real._ Lucious Lyon was married. And he had married Cookie. And Cookie was pregnant. Which was why they were married. "But Cookie's not an orphan!"

Lucious gave a thin smile. "She doesn't have to be. It's just a name for the court, Candace."

Still in just a bra and sweatpants, Candace fumbled back until her hands found a chair to sit in. She tried to put her shirt back on, but gave up when she couldn't stop her hands from trembling. Candace had had a bad feeling that Cookie was pregnant when she didn't start 9th grade in time, claiming she was going to enroll in the spring. But this? Slowly, the full picture was starting to form in Candace's head. "You slick talkin' son of a bitch...you planned this all along. You told Cookie to get pregnant so you two could get married. Didn't you, Lucious!?" she shrieked when Lucious didn't answer at first. "That's why you were always in bed with her! You motherfucker, you got my sister pregnant on purpose!"

Lucious nodded his head slowly. "Yeah. I did. And now it's done." He spoke the next words slowly, so that a sister with no pride and no loyalty could understand. "Cookie is my wife now. I love her."

But Candace couldn't accept that. "Why?" was all Candace managed to get out, crying openly now. "Why do you love Cookie?" How could anybody possibly love a girl like Cookie Lyon, especially a man like Lucious, who wasn't loud or showy and didn't fill the house with orgasmic cries like some kind of tramp?

"Why?" Lucious couldn't believe that Cookie's own sister would ask such a question, but he tried to answer anyway. "Well...she keeps my braids tight. And she sings to me when I have nightmares. And she helps me when I'm stuck writing my songs. And she changes the strings in my guitar every month. She puts them in the wrong way," Lucious laughed, "but I'm used to it. I like how it sounds."

Little by little, Lucious ticked off a number of things that Candace never noticed. Ever since they first got together, Candace thought that Lucious stayed with Cookie because she was easy. Not once did Candace ever consider that Lucious loved Cookie as much as Cookie loved Lucious, or that he even loved Cookie at all. "...didn't laugh at me when she found out she was my first," Lucious was saying.

"Your first what?" Candace said, only half listening by now.

"My first. You know..." Lucious smiled sheepishly. "My first."

Candace was thunderstruck. "You were a virgin?"

"Damn, girl! You ain't gotta tell the whole world." Lucious grinned, embarrassed. "She's never been with any other man but me, and I've never been with any other girl except her. And now we're gonna have a baby."

Cookie being a virgin before she got was Lucious was an even bigger shock that Lucious having been a virgin when they met. "But you didn't even write her when you were in juvy!" Candace pointed out.

"I know. But Candace, the judge said we were going to be apart for _six months._ Do you have any idea how long that is? I couldn't stand thinking about not having Cookie for that long. So...I just cut her off. But I did what I had to do to make sure nobody testified so I could get out," Lucious finished hastily. "So we could get together and have our baby so we could get married and be together forever."

All Candace could do was shake her head. "Mama's gonna kill you two," she said sadly, knowing full well that their mother might not even care at all. In fact, she might even be glad to have one less mouth to feed.

"Don't matter." a voice said from the door. "Like Lucious said, it's done."

Candace never found out how long Cookie had been standing at the door. "Cookie," Lucious said, rushing over to his new wife. "It's not like it looks like-"

"It's exactly what it looks like." Cookie's voice was low and deadly. "It looks like my bougie-ass sister is tryna fuck my husband."

"Cookie-" Then Lucious noticed that Candace still wasn't wearing a shirt. Had Candace gotten dressed when she tried, he could've covered for her. _"Candace!"_

"No, it's okay. I got it, Lucious. Here, Candace. Get dressed." Cookie took her jacket off, then yanked the shirt from her own body and flung it in Candace's direction - a University of Pennsylvania track team t-shirt that Candace had begged off the team coach. _"Motivation for my little sister,"_ she'd told him. _"She's starting the 9th grade."_ Only Cookie never started.

"Cookie," Candace began. "Nothing happened, I'm telling you-"

"Because of Lucious." Cookie quietly closed the door behind her. "It didn't happen because of Lucious. My husband is loyal to me, Candace. But you ain't."

Behind Cookie's calm words promised a torrent of violence. Candace felt the hairs on her neck stand up. "You always thought you was better than everybody because of your bougie-ass honors classes and your bougie-ass tennis shit. And I had to hear about every day at school. Every day, Candace!" Cookie's voice took on a high-pitched, mocking tone. " _Why don't you get good grades like Candace? Why don't you write neat like Candace? Why don't you run track like Candace?_

"But now I got the man you wanted. Yeah, bitch," Cookie added when both Lucious and Candace looked surprised. "You wasn't foolin' nobody. I knew you wanted him then. But he don't want you, Candace," Cookie added in a singsong voice. "He don't love you, Candace. Lucious loves me! He married me!" Cookie's voice cracked under the strain. "The only thing I ever had that was all mine, _**and you tried to take him from me!"**_

"Cookie..." It was almost as if it was written in the stars that Candace would go to college and Cookie would go to the welfare office. But hadn't Cookie passed all of her final exams with near-perfect scores? Didn't she consistently score well in the areas of math and science on standardized tests? Why didn't anybody encourage Cookie to join a summer track team and get her grades up to go to a better school, like Candace did? Even Candace had cracked up at the idea of Cookie going to Central High School. Central booking, maybe, but not Central High School.

Lucious reached for Cookie's hand, but Cookie jerked out of his grasp. Candace thought back to the very first time she walked in on Lucious and Cookie, and how Cookie held her sister's gaze when any other girl would've been embarrassed, or at least startled. Cookie, on the other hand, looked triumphant, just like she looked right now. "You're never gonna have a man like my man, Candace," Cookie predicted. "No one's ever gonna love you like Lucious loves me, bitch. Remember that. Now, get out," Cookie ordered her sister. "Get the fuck out of here. Now."

"Wait a minute, ho," Candace stood up. "I live here, too. Only thing you're the boss of around here is being on your back!"

"You callin' me a ho?" Cookie asked incredulously. "You tryna fuck my man, but I'm a ho!?"

"Hell, yeah, you a ho!" Candace knew she was wrong, but she had to save face somehow. "Everybody knows it!"

"Hey!" Lucious stepped between his wife and his sister-in-law, moving so close to Candace that their chests bumped. "That's my wife, Candace! You don't talk to my wife like that!"

"Oh, shut _up_ , Lucious!" Just a few minutes ago, Candace would've loved to be this close to Lucious. Now she wanted nothing more than to get away from him. "Don't you hear nothin' out on these streets? Even Mama knew she was sleeping around!" she yelled when Cookie took a swing at her sister. "Why you think Mama put her on the pill when she was just 13? Not that it did any good!"

 _"Because you told her to!"_ Cookie screamed, and Lucious struggled to keep Cookie away from her sister. "You told Mama I was sleeping around! I told you I wasn't, but you didn't believe me! I swear to God - call me a ho again! _Call me a ho again, bitch!_ I'm a ho, but you tryna sleep with my man!"

"Why you trippin', Candace?" Lucious was floored at Candace's lack of loyalty. "That's your sister, girl! And Cookie was a virgin when we first got together - you know that!"

"Is that what she told you, Lucious? I thought you were supposed to be smart!" Candace observed bitterly. "Ain't no telling whose baby that is-"

Before Lucious could respond, Cookie grabbed Lucious by the waist, pulled out his revolver and squeezed the trigger. Candace screamed when the gun went off, then froze. She hadn't been hit - rage had spoiled Cookie's aim - but there was a hole in the wall that Candace was going to have hell explaining to her mother. _Mama, Cookie tried to shoot me because I tried to have sex with Lucious. Oh, and did you know they're married now?_

Lucious grabbed Cookie's arm, and the gun clattered to the ground. But Cookie was out of control now, absolutely crazed in the face of her sister's betrayal. "Get out, Candace! I swear to God, I'll kill you! Don't you _ever_ try to take what's mine again! _Ever!"_

"Cookie! Stop-stop! Stop it, Cookie!" Lucious took Cookie into his arms the way Candace wish he'd done for her, and the effect was instantaneous. All Candace had was Carol, who had come into the apartment at the tail end of Cookie and Candace's fighting, and was crying as hard as Cookie was. "I'm not a ho," Cookie sobbed into her husband's arms. "I'm not a ho, Lucious...I swear I've only been with you..."

"I know, baby," Lucious assured his young wife. "Shh. I know." Lucious's eyes were cold when he looked back at Candace. "You better go, Candace," Lucious said quietly while Cookie cried so hard in his arms that she could no longer stand.

"I hate her, Lucious." Cookie wept into Lucious's chest. "She was always tellin' Mama lies about me. They made me take those pills, even when they made me sick. Make her go away, Lucious, please..."

"Cookie..." Finally, Candace realized that she'd only wanted Lucious because Lucious loved Cookie. It was all a game to Candace. A goal to reach. To Cookie, Lucious was everything. And in her own pathetic way, Cookie had become just as respectable as Candace. She was Mrs. Lucious Lyon now. That was how deep Lucious's love was for her, even at 16. "Cookie, I'm sorry..."

"Just go, Candace," Lucious interrupted, his voice hard. "Please." Candace's ears were filled the sound of Cookie's crying, but it was the look on Lucious's face that finally propelled Candace out the door.

* * *

The last time Candace walked in on Lucious and Cookie in bed together, her nephew looked Candace dead in eye and asked her who she was. It seemed like Andre Lyon had inherited his father's door greeting skills. _Uh, yeah...Cookie home?_

Carol moved in with Cookie and Lucious her first year of middle school, and it turned out to be her undoing. Unlike Cookie, who could hold a baby in one hand and a blunt in the other, Carol couldn't handle any type of drug, or even alcohol. Carol managed to make it to her junior year of high school before she got thrown out of school permanently. That hit Candace hard. Even Cookie didn't get expelled.

But while Cookie was a horrible sister and guardian, she was a wonderful wife and mother by all accounts. Around the time Candace was graduating from Penn, Cookie had another son, one they named Jamal. By then, Cookie was dealing drugs, which stunned Candace. But she was enraged when she learned that Cookie had sucked Carol into it. If Cookie wanted to marry a dealer and become one herself, so be it. But to drag Carol into it? That was even more unforgivable than Candace throwing herself at Lucious.

Confronting Cookie about it was the last conversation the sisters ever had, resulting in a fight that was so brutal that even Lucious and Bunkie combined couldn't break it up. The only thing that stopped the fight was when Carol jumped in alongside Cookie. For once, Cookie got as well as she gave, even with Carol on her side. She sported a black eye for two weeks while Candace graduated from college with a split lip and a splint on the broken pinkie finger on her left hand. From there, the sisters never spoke again.

It was just as much Candace's fault as Cookie's, though. Once Candace graduated from Penn, she never looked back to the hood. Candace traveled all over the world, earned a master's degree on top of a bachelor's, and got engaged to a man she met while she was vacationing in Ireland. Candace just so happened to be home for a sorority sister's wedding when someone from the old neighborhood expressed sympathy for her loss. She had to ask where the wake was being held.

Carol - rail thin, high as a kite, and furious at having learned that their mother had left all her meager savings to Cookie - scowled at Candace upon sight. "You missed the funeral!" she hissed, not even introducing Candace to her nephews. "And Cookie's gonna kill you if she sees you!" Upon sliding her $100, Carol walked Candace through the house and knocked on the bedroom door softly before opening it. "Cookie?" Candace called softly while Carol hung out at the door.

 _Cookie? Dinner's ready._

And there they were. Still curled up together, with Cookie's head still resting on Lucious's heart, where no doubt her initials were still written. 12 years and two boys...no, three. The squirmy blue ball on Cookie's chest signaled the birth of another Lyon son. Lucious was still as sexy as ever, with his expensive Italian loafers crossed one over the other and an 18-karat gold chain draped around his neck. But that was ancient history...

Looking at Cookie and looking at Carol proved the old warning true: _never get high off your own supply_. Cookie and Carol were in the same game, but Cookie looked like a million dollars. What Cookie was wearing in her ears and Lucious was wearing around his neck was real. Cookie's hair and nails were flawless. The high heels by the bed were expensive, as were the diamond studs in her ears, the purse on the nightstand, and the Tiffany blue blanket that held her youngest son. Even the house, run down as it was, was paid in full. So was all the expensive music equipment that was stacked all over. So much disposable income. It made Candace nervous.

Lucious woke up first. "Candace?" Other than a couple of times around town, the two hadn't seen each other since the day they kissed. Those hazel eyes still cut through her, though. _Ancient history_ , Candace reminded herself. But damn, he still looked good. Candace knew that he still smelled good, too. "Hey, girl! How you been?"

 _Ancient history. Ancient history._ "Hey, Lucious." Candace nodded her chin to the bundle curled up in Cookie's arms. "Got another little Lyon cub?"

"Yeahhhh, buddy." There was so much pride in Lucious's voice that Candace had to smile. "That's Hakeem. I'd let you hold him," he added, as if Candace had ever held Andre or Jamal, "but Cookie would kill me if I woke him up."

At the sound of her name, Cookie's eyes fluttered open. "Candace?" she asked disbelievingly as her eyes focused on her long-lost sister.

"Hey...hey Cookie." Candice tried to smile. "I see you got you a new baby."

 _It's okay, sis. You won._

In the silence that followed, Candace wanted to tell Cookie how wrong she'd been all those years ago, and that she was so happy that Lucious and Cookie were still together nearly 12 years later. She'd heard Lucious's song on the radio, and it sounded great. Lucious had real talent. Everybody in the neighborhood was saying so. And Candace didn't know why, but she had this nagging feeling that if Cookie and Lucious kept dealing like they were doing, something could go wrong. No, Candace thought, eyeing the anniversary rock on Cookie's ring finger. Something would go wrong. She just felt it.

But Lucious and Cookie didn't have to keep dealing like they were doing. Candace had some connections from Penn. It would be a bit of an adjustment, but they could make it. They could! They would have to. Because Candace was scared - so, so scared - that something could happen that might separate Cookie from this beautiful boy in the Tiffany blue blanket. And what would Lucious do without Cookie, the girl he married when he was just 16? If six months had been a lifetime to him, what would he do if one of them were sentences to years in jail?

"Carol," Cookie called abruptly, cutting into Lucious's thoughts.

Carol peeked into the room. "Yeah, Cook?"

"Get this bitch out of my house." 12 years later, Cookie's voice was as hate-filled as her heart still was.

"Wait a minute, Cookie," Lucious said gently. He hated to see two sisters still at each other's throats over something that happened so long ago. "Why don't I take the baby and you and Candace can-"

Cookie sat up so fast that Hakeem began to cry. "I said get this bitch out of my house! Get out, Candace!" Cookie ordered again, sounding no different than she did when she was 14.

 _No one's ever gonna love you like Lucious loves me, bitch. Remember that._

As Cookie laid back down, rocking Hakeem back to sleep, Candace left without a word. It would be nearly 20 years before they spoke again in a place without bars or guards. Lucious was long gone by then.

END


End file.
